Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oatmeal]

My situation is this:
I've been in Korea since 2010.
Taught at same public school from 2010-2015.
I took 1 year off (2016-2017).
I'm now going back to my same school for 2017-2018 year.

I went to go do my medical health check today at the same hospital
I've always gone for the past 5 years.

It seems something changed but I don't know what. They made me
fill out a different looking form and I went to a different counter.

Then when I went inside, they told me something about how
since I took 1 year off and wasn't paying into health insurance,
I have to now pay the medical check up fee out of my own pocket (35,000-40,000 won fee). In the past, I just wrote down my school name/address and they would mail the results to my school and the fee
would be taken care of.

Now they said, I have to pay myself, I also have to provide a photo
(like a passport size), and then after the examination is done, I have to
come back again the next day to PICK UP the results. I asked if they could just mail to my school like always but they said they can't.

It sounds like I am taking a slightly different test or format as if I'm a first-timer again. I don't remember if the I had to pay out of my own pocket the very first time I came to Korea. But every year after since I was renewing, it was very simple and covered.

Can anyone help clarify on my situation? Am I going through this weird process because of the 1 year layoff I took? Or are they making an error and giving me the wrong test? Or has the government / EPIK / GEPIK changed the medical examination?

Also, it sounds like I might have to pay a penalty fee for the 1 year off I took and didn't pay health insurance. I remember when my year off started, I received a document from the National Health Pension or something that I had to declare or get an individual health insurance, but I read on the form one of the EXEMPTIONS for not having to pay/contribute to a health insurance is UNEMPLOYMENT. I was unemployed for that entire year so I didn't pay any health insurance or buy my own individual health insurance.